Austin ranks ninth for software employment

The Austin area dropped two ranks to ninth place in a new survey of software industry employment.

The Software & Information Industry Association released its analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealing the top 25 metropolitan areas for software-related employment in 2003.

For the fifth year in a row, the Boulder, Colo., area was the leading metropolitan area for software employment relative to population. The second leading area was San Jose, Calif., followed by Research Triangle, N.C.; Washington, D.C.; and Huntsville, Ala.

The only other Texas city in the top 25 was Dallas, which fell two places to No. 12.

"The software industry has created a tremendous number of high-skilled jobs throughout the country," says Ken Wasch, the association's president. "The wide geographic range of cities in this list highlights the importance of software and technology to the U.S. economy."